ExxonMobil seeks dismissal of Mayflower oil spill suits

ExxonMobil Corp. is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Arkansas residents who claim their property values and health suffered after a March 29 oil spill.

Townspeople in Mayflower claim that some of them have suffered headaches, nausea, chest pain and other ailments following a pipeline rupture that dumped thousands of barrels of oil into the central Arkansas town. Many have also sued for alleged loss of property value.

The oil company’s motion to dismiss specifically targets a suit filed by Kathryn Jane Roachell Chunn and Ellen Burgess, who live a few hundred yards away from the spill site, according to KARK 4. Exxon argues in its motion that residents shouldn’t be able to sue for lost property values unless the spill directly affected their homes.